There are many examples in the prior art of cable which is both usable as a tow cable or cable having high tensile strength and for providing effective signal conduction at high frequencies. One such example is a Gilmore U.S. Pat. No. 3,345,456. The design shown in this patent is generally of the type used in the TACAMO system for signal transmission from airplanes. However, the design of cables in accordance with the referenced Gilmore patent and other similar designs presently used have suffered from short life due to stresses incurred upon being rewound on the storage reel and have also had problems with high signal impedances at the signal frequencies involved.
The prior art design also exhibited some torque unbalance as well as having excessive aerodynamic drag when deployed.
The present design improves upon all of the above-listed shortfalls of the prior art by using standard wire cable construction rather than a wrapped conductive strap on the outside, combining non-magnetic relatively high tensile strength wires with conductive wires in the outer surface of the cable and incorporating some conductive wires in the cable core wound in a direction opposite that of the wires on the outer surface or periphery of the cable.
The above alterations allow the cable to be produced on standard steel cable winding machines, thereby lowering the cost and improving the wire breaking strength such that it can be rewound onto a drum approxiately four times as often, have reduced the AC impedance, increased the radiation efficiency, and minimized torque unbalance along with increasing the aerodynamic efficiency.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an improved high tensile strength electrical cable.